Railway draft appliance.



' w. F. RICHARDS.

RAILWAY DRAFT AIILIANCE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 24, 1913 Patented Aug. 7, 1917.

i I In MII 75' HHH y hl. I

UNTTED sTaTns PATENT orricn WILLARD F. RICHARDS, 0F .DEPE'WQ NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 GOULI) COUPLR COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

RAILWAY DRAFT APPLIANCE.

Application led March 24, 1913.

couplers are connected to the yielding or spring resistance. mechanisms of the draft gears.

In railway draft andbuiiing gears of the kindconimonly in use at the present time a yoke vor strap attached to the inner end of the drawbar or shank of the coupler'eX- tends around the spring or resistance mechanism of the draft gear for transmitting the draft from the coupler to the resistanceiiiechanism. These yokes are ordinarily ar' ranged vertically between thedraft beams of the car, that is, with the upper and lower bars of the yoke above and below the resistance mechanism of the draft gear. If the yoke is attached to the coupler shank by vertical bolts or rivets, as is commonly the case, it is a matter of great diiiiculty and in some cases an impossibility to remove the coupler from the car without taking out the draft gear. detachably connect the yoke to the drawbar or coupler shank in such a way as to allow the coupler to be disconnected from the yoke and removed,leaving the yoke with theresistance 'mechanism of thezdraft gear in place on the car, thisbeing done by means of a connecting pin oi' key which extends horizontally through registering holes in the coupler shank and portions of the yoke disposed at opposite sides of the coupler shank and is removable through holesinthe draft beams of the car. -In order .to provide the necessary pa'rts at the opposite vertical! sides of the coupler shank for the engagement Of the horizontal connecting pin, the yokes have been cast with an integral socket to receive the end of the coupler shank, or with integral side walls which embrace the coupler shank. These? cast steel vokcs are objectionable for the reason that it is exceedingly difficult, if not impracticable, to make the cast steel ykes of uniform tensile strengthl and quality.

Specification of Letters Patent.

It has been attempted to Patented Aug. 7, 191'?.

serial No. 756,331. i

The yokes frequently contain hidden gas holes or flaws which weaken them and they are apt to bevweak at the juncture of the strap with the socket on account of the unequal shrinkage of these different parts.

The object of this invention is to produce a practical and desirable draft yoke of strong, durable and' economical construction which is provided at its outer end with a socket or part, adapted to receive the inner end of the coupler shank or drawbar, and to be connected thereto by a horizontal removable key orl device which permits the coupler to be detached'from the yoke and removed from the car leaving the yoke and resistance mechanism of the draft gear in place on the car'.

This is accomplished by making the yoke of a wrought metal strap adapted to surround the resistanceinechanism of the draft gear, and'a socket or part, preferably made of cast steel, which is securely lattached to the stra and in which thel coupler shank or drawibar is removably secured by the horizontal cross key or other device permitting the coupler to be readily detached from the yoke. y

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure l is a plan view of the draft yoke embodying the invention and the inner end of the coupler shank or drawbar to which it is connected.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation, partly in section, thereof.

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional elevationv Aloo draft gear (not shown) in the usual manner,

and a socket or part C, preferably of cast vsteel, which is attached to the forward or outer-,end `of the strap B and is adapted to receive and be detachably secured to the inner end of alcoupler shank or drawbar A, preferably by the usual horizontal cross key or pin D which passes' through the hole a of the coupler shank and through registering holes c in the upright side walls or portions of the socket C. 4The socket C is of a size to permit the inner-end of the coupler shank to be readily slipped endwise into and out of the same, and as shown it consists of opposite upright side walls or plates c and horizontal top and bottom walls or plates c2 which join the upper and lower portions of the side walls at the inner portion of the socket. The ends of the upper and lower bars of the strap B are preferably confined in recesses c3 in the inner faces of the top and bottom walls of the socket, and are provided, respectively, with upwardly and downwardly bent extremities c4 entering correspondingly shaped holes c in the top and bottom walls Of the socket. The inner end of the coupler shank or drawbar when in place in the socket C extends between the ends of the bars of the strap B which are spaced apart a distance substantially equal to the depth of said inner end of the shank, and the shank is, therefore, adapted to prevent the bars of the strap from springing toward each other so as to disengage the extremities c4 of the strap from the holes o5 in the top and bottom walls of the socket. lVhile the coupler shank thus Serves as a means to prevent the disconnection of the strap from the socket or casting C and is adequate for this purpose under normalconditions, for the sake of additional security the ends of the strap are preferablypermanently fastened to the socket C in such a way as to positively prevent the strain on the strap from straightening out or breaking the extremities c4 and'tlius tearing the strap away from the `socket. This is conveniently done by upsetting the extremities c4 or otherwise making them of increased cross section with divenging sides whereby they are securely interlocked'in the holes c5 and cannot be broken or straightened and pulled out of the holes c5. This interlocked connection can bereadily formed in casting the socket C by placing the strap B in the mold for the socket and pouring the metal for the socket into the mold about the yoke or strap. In this way the ends of the strap fit tightly in the recesses c3 and holes c5 of the top and bottom plates of the socket and are permanently and securely attached thereto. The metal of the top and bottom plates will also flow more or less under the upturned and downturned extremities of the strap, as indicated at c6, and further assists in preventing the ends of the strap from being disengaged from the holes c5. The strap is thus permanently attached to thesocket or casting without the use of rivets or any 'other separate securing devices, the connection being in this respect an economical and reliable means of securely fastening the strap to the socket or casting. The described connection has the further advantage over rivets or the like fastenings, in that the strap and top and bottom walls of the socket are not weakened by holes for the fastenings and there are no parts to work loose or break.

The side walls c of the socket C are preferably formed with projecting bosses e, surrounding the pin or key holes e, which strengthen the side walls and afford broad bearings for the connecting pin or key D, and also with strengthening ribs e which diverge rearwardly from the forward lends of the bosses e to the upper and lower edges of the side walls and thus serve to' transmit the stress from the connecting pin or key to the top and bottom walls of the socket to which the bars of the strap are attached.

The construction described provides a secure and safe connection between the coupler shank or drawbar and the yoke, which permits the coupler to be readily detached from the yoke and removed from the car, and the yoke is strong and durable and can be cheaply manufactured.

I claim as my invention:

l. A draft yoke for car couplers, comprising a' cast metal socket adapted to receive and be detachably secured .on the shank of a car Coupler, and a wrought metal strap, the ends of which extend in between the coupler shank and the walls of saidsocket and are provided with projections, said socket having integralv` portions thereof which embrace and tightly fit the ends of said strap and interlock with said projections of the strap to prevent movement of said strap in any direction relatively to said socket and permanently secure the strap to the socket.

2. A draft yoke for car couplers, comprising a hollow socket adapted to receive and be detachably secured to the shank of a car coupler, and a metal strap, the legs of which lie against the inner faces of the walls of said socket and have outwardly bent ends which extend into holes in the walls of said socket and have outer extremities of greater dimensions than the inner ends of said holes whereby said 'strap is permanently secured to Said socket.

Witness myhand, this 21st day of March,

VVILLARD F. RICHARDS; Witnesses:

C. W. PARKER, C. B. HORNBECK. 

